start with scouting

Chapter 472 What is Gentleman Sweeping?

After a timeout, the Rockets concentrated on attacking the inside.

Howard succeeded in a row, did not pass the ball when he was double-teamed, and played like the last game of his career.

Howard, who is fully healthy, is the number one center in the NBA. Cousins ​​also followed Su Yang's intention, focusing on pinching the pass and supplementing the strong attack. It takes a lot of energy.

The king's offense is still the same, Millsap bullied Terrence Ross in the low post, like diamonds hitting silver, two grades higher.

Seeing that the Rockets coach Mike Hale was unable to tie the score, he simply arranged for Jeremy Lin to play, replacing Parsons as the main three-guard lineup, further dividing Harden's ball rights, and the offensive efficiency has really improved, but Antetokounmpo's chances of scoring also increased.

After the first quarter, the Kings led the Rockets 31 to 23. Millsap scored 11 points and Harden made 5 of 0 shots.

The two teams entered the second quarter of the substitute duel. McHale was not very good at the rotation arrangement, and he did not dare to take the risk to let more players appear on the field. He rudely adopted the rotation and let Parsons, who had left the field early before, lead the team. With Jeremy Lin and Asik.

But apart from those three, the other two Rockets are veterans Garcia and Terrence Jones. They lack space inside and attack with the ball outside. They need to use a lot of pick-and-rolls to launch offenses. Su Yang arranged for the Kings to resort to partial three defenses and two defenses. , efficient restriction.

In 3 minutes, the king's lead was close to 15+.

Rockets coach McHale hurriedly arranged for Harden and Howard to appear on the stage. However, Howard played too hard in the first quarter. His physical strength and state have not yet recovered, and his efficiency is quite low. Harden returned to normal, scoring 4 points on 3 of 7 shots. Holding the ball for too long.

Su Yang chatted with assistant coach Snyder in the gap between free throws, lamenting that Harden was different and changed during the Thunder period.

Harden holds the ball for too long, which is a problem that the Rockets haven't solved all season. Some coaches condone it, and some Harden is conservative.

In the final analysis, the Rockets have no determination to win the championship. The bottom line is to recruit stars and sell tickets, and it counts wherever they play in the playoffs.

So do everything possible to coax Harden, rush to renew the contract early if he can, and re-sign the contract for fear of Harden's disadvantage.

At halftime, the Kings led by 16 points.

Back from a break in the third quarter, Howard was troubled by fouls and left the field early. The Rockets changed to Harden to lead alone.Su Yang decisively arranged to focus on defending Harden, pinching his left hand, close to the body and not giving space, etc., to sanction Harden who has no whistle bonus.

Harden is limited, the Rockets' offense is blocked, but the Kings are still running smoothly, and Millsap has been promoted to the gold rank.

三节比赛打完，哈登单节7投1中，合计4分2助攻2抢断2篮板，突出很二。

In contrast, Millsap scored 10 of 7 shots in a single quarter and scored 16 points, helping the Kings lead to 20 points.

Seeing that Millsap scored 39 points in three quarters, Su Yang suddenly thought of a very possible situation: Millsap would not implement the player option in the off-season, choose to opt out of the contract, and test the free market with a strong performance in the playoffs , to seek a big contract.

At that time, do you want to re-sign?
The team's salary space next season is very tight, and Millsap averaged at least 16.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

After thinking about it, Su Yang didn't even pay much attention to the game.

The Rockets did not give up. Harden seemed to wake up from a dream, full of offense and defense, especially defending Millsap very hard.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The King finally defeated the Rockets 117 to 99, leading 1-0 in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

For the Rockets, Howard made 22 of 13 shots and scored 32 points and 14 rebounds. If it weren't for foul trouble, the statistics would only be even more awesome. Harden made 19 of 6 shots and 4 free throws to score 18 points and 4 rebounds. With 3 assists and [-] rebounds, the performance failed.

On the King's side, Millsap scored 45 points. If it wasn't for the Rockets in the fourth quarter, he would have a chance to hit 50+.

All kinds of discussions followed on Twitter and other platforms. Fans blew up Millsap, and at the same time praised Su Yang's 2-year 2000 million signing is too awesome, but most of the off-season can't be kept, and there have been rumors about the Eagles and so on. Teams will compete in a free market.

At the press conference after the game, reporters also asked about Millsap’s potential contract extension. Su Yang replied: “That’s not the focus of our consideration for the time being. I will study the video next and predict how the Rockets may limit his sharp offense. ..."

Between the words, it was revealed that Millsap would not be forcibly suppressed, so as to facilitate the renewal of the contract. Anyway, anyone who understands understands.

On the same night, the Thunder also beat the Lakers by 20 points.

Mainly, Durant beat Artest and efficiently scored 40 points in three quarters. Kobe Bryant had just recovered from his knee injury and was not in good condition. Gasol's low offensive efficiency was low. Power, the Lakers are in a mess.

The prospect of the Lakers defending the title is gloomy. The Lakers scolded Bass for his brainless operation and invited Byron Scott to be the coach.

Rumors about Curry's offseason will leave simultaneously.

The three-day break ended, and on the evening of the 23rd, the second game of the first round of the playoffs between the Kings and the Rockets started in Saskatchewan.

The Rockets did not make defensive adjustments. McHale emphasized in an interview: "The loss of 20 points in the first game does not represent our true strength. It was the first game of the playoffs. The players are in the adaptation stage, especially in away games. very slow…"

All the strategies discussed by Su Yang and the coach were useless, and Millsap continued to abuse Terrence Ross, comparable to a king.

The Rockets did play better than the first game. Harden also resorted to the strongest foul-making tricks, causing Marcus Thornton to get 4 fouls in the first half. Draw a foul and maintain your personal score.

In the last 3 seconds of the game, Gay failed to kill.

The two teams entered overtime, and the Kings were in full bloom, withstood Jeremy Lin's 4 of 3, and also prevented Harden from hitting the iron 4 times in a row.

After the whole game, the Kings narrowly beat the Rockets 124 to 122, leading Oita 2-0 in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Millsap once again scored 43 points and 18 rebounds superbly, Gay also scored 31 points, while Thomas Jr. and Cousins ​​scored 18 points and 14 points in various ways. The other players of the Kings scored very few. Also shorten the rotation.

For the Rockets, Harden made 28 of 8 shots, 14 of 3 three-pointers, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls, with 27 low-efficiency points.

After the game, he participated in the press conference and talked about whether Millsap scored 40+ points in two consecutive games and whether it would affect the king's contract renewal plan. Su Yang replied: "I definitely hope he can stay, but it's too early to talk about it. Let's see what happens..."

That same night, the Lakers lost to the Thunder 99-100.

Kobe scored 11 points in a row in the final quarter, but was double-teamed at the last moment, and Curry failed to catch the ball with a wide open three-pointer.

For a while, many fans ridiculed Curry for not being able to hit key shots, and he must have strong players to attract double-teams in order to start his daily state. That's why Curry's performance in leading the team alone is so poor, except for the three-pointer. It all depends on the original support.

Su Yang saw the news, and as a friend of a friend, sent a text message to encourage Curry not to worry, because the Thunder itself is very strong.

Curry simply replied with a ^_^ emoji.

it is more than words.

The king flew to Houston overnight, and after a day's rest, he went to the Toyota Center to start the third game of the first round with the Rockets.

After two tough games, McHale finally removed Terrence Ross from the starting lineup, and changed to Asik and Howard to form the starting pair of towers, allowing the two towers to take turns against Millsap, and went around the front to limit receiving the ball, pulling down with difficulty. Millsap scoring efficiency.

McHale also minimized Jeremy Lin's playing time, and used Troy Daniels, who had never played in the previous two games, to successfully improve the Rockets' three-point shooting efficiency, which involved a lot of space, and by the way, let Parsons play the same state as Leonard.

But Milsam was restricted, and Gay, Cousins, Thomas Jr., and even Antetokounmpo all got more opportunities accordingly.

The two teams fought hard until the end of the fourth quarter. Su Yang deployed a lore tactic, but Thomas Jr. made a shot and went into overtime.

The king became more and more courageous, and the Rockets except Howard, everyone else was lax, but Jeremy Lin didn't play for a second.

At the end of the game, the Kings defeated the Rockets 124-120, leading 3-0 in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Millsap still scored 29 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 blocks, and only 1 turnover. His strong performance sparked heated discussions across the league. LeBron also joined in the fun and tweeted: "Paul Millsap!!! Unstoppable! !!POWER!"

That same night, the Thunder beat the Lakers by 16 points at the Staples Center, allowing Bryant to score 42 points.

The Kings took a day off to play against the Rockets again. Millsap got 2 fouls in the first quarter and 4 fouls in the half. Thomas Jr. was also troubled by fouls because of Beverley's flop. In addition, Harden finally played normally. In the final 98 games 109 losses.

When Su Yang left the field, he waved at the crazy Rockets fans and shouted: "Friends, see you next season!"

The fifth game between the two teams will return to the home court of the Saskatchewan Kings. It is not difficult for the Gentleman to sweep the Rockets without a penalty bonus 4-1. He has even begun to think about his opponent in the next round. He wants to beat the Thunder to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Kings The sword must be slanted.

The plane landed in Saskatchewan, and everyone took out their mobile phones to check the news as usual, and found that TMZ broke the news that Sterling was racially discriminatory.

(End of this chapter)